Preserving national dignity

(Baonghean) - This past week, several incidents have negatively impacted the honor and reputation of Vietnam and its people. First, there was the alleged bribery scandal involving billions of dong by railway officials to help a Japanese consulting company win a bid for a railway project using ODA funds. While this issue was still making headlines both domestically and internationally, another incident occurred: a flight attendant from Vietnam Airlines was detained by Japanese police for questioning on suspicion of receiving stolen goods. These two events, linked together, have left any Vietnamese person with a shred of self-respect feeling ashamed.

In fact, similar embarrassing incidents are not new; they've been happening for a long time. They started when Vietnamese people began to have enough money to travel abroad. From then on, very unpleasant things began to happen, related to the bad habits and vices of many of us. One such thing is the wasteful eating, forcing people to throw away leftovers in an extremely wasteful way because of the mentality of "Since I paid for the meal, I might as well throw it away." If you've paid for a buffet at a restaurant, you can take as much as you want, and if you don't finish it, you throw it away because... well, you've already paid anyway. They don't consider that this is uncivilized behavior; it's a wasteful and uncivilized act that's offensive in the eyes of foreigners. As a result, many Vietnamese tourists have felt embarrassed and annoyed, feeling discriminated against and insulted, when they enter some restaurants in Thailand, Singapore, etc., and see a sign in Vietnamese in the middle of the table with the sole purpose of warning Vietnamese people: "Take only as much food as you can eat. Leaving leftover food will incur a $5 fine."

In countries with professional tourism, no one wants to offend anyone. Tourists are their main source of income. No one would ever drive customers away in that way.

But they had no choice but to do it. And that shows they were so fed up with the uncivilized behavior of some Vietnamese people that they resorted to this disrespectful act and sign. The fault lies with us, not them.

And since the number of Vietnamese-Japanese trainees and tourists visiting Japan has increased, petty theft has also risen. According to statistics from the Japanese police, Vietnamese people account for 40% of foreign offenders. So much so that in some supermarkets, they have gone against the Japanese tradition of respecting others by displaying a sign in Vietnamese reminding and warning: "Petty theft is a crime. Those who steal will be sentenced to less than 10 years in prison. Upon discovering any theft, we will immediately notify the police." Of course, these warnings are only directed at Vietnamese people. What could be more shameful than this! Furthermore, countries in the region such as South Korea, Taiwan, and Malaysia are extremely alarmed by Vietnamese workers' disorganized behavior, tendency to quarrel, and frequent attempts to work illegally to earn more money, disregarding the laws of the host country. Because of this, South Korea has at times temporarily suspended accepting workers from Vietnam. Other countries have also organized large-scale raids targeting Vietnamese workers for their illegal activities.

Therefore, the world knows Vietnam and the Vietnamese people as a hardworking, intelligent, courageous, studious, and determined nation... However, many foreigners also have prejudices against Vietnamese people, viewing them as uncivilized with uncultured behaviors such as pushing and shoving, jostling, not queuing, littering, spitting indiscriminately, and especially, the worst habit of petty theft. This prejudice is not without basis in reality.

It is noteworthy that, despite serious incidents and behaviors affecting national prestige, no individual, organization, or agency has yet taken the lead in thoroughly addressing this issue. Therefore, relevant state agencies and friendship associations should develop a long-term action plan to revitalize and protect national honor and the dignity of the Vietnamese people. This could be called a strategy for preserving national dignity. This strategy could be entrusted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The first step should be to coordinate with relevant agencies, departments, and organizations to find ways to minimize the aforementioned offensive behaviors. Initially, focus should be placed on those who frequently travel abroad in general, such as students, tourists, and migrant workers. How can we instill in each of them a sense of national pride that will restrain and control greed and disorganized, undisciplined habits, so that we can gradually improve and enhance the image of Vietnamese people in the eyes of the international community?

And that is also a practical and effective way to enhance Vietnam's position on the international stage.

Duy Huong